Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

Little Britian in the short term is pretty OTM though, look at the BBC 3 comedy roster. And it is definetely represntative of a clutural moment that encompasses the likes of The Friday Night Project and Blunder whether it actually influenced these thing is debatable but y know as a certain ilx dude likes to point out the whole concept of influence in these contexts is kinda silly.

Go on, justify inclusion of Vicar of Dibley then :-)

OK it revived teh idea of the trad sitcom. My Family and My Hero can be seen as following directly from its undemanding but slick mix of mild slapstick and loveably quirky characters centred round "national treasure" type lynchpin.

NO ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, NO CREDIBILITY

WHAT DID THAT "INFLUENCE"?

The Vicar Of Dibley is probably the one that stuck out most for me as well, although OFAH is kind of an odd one as well.

Spitting Image could be argued two ways, either directly influencing the Ianucci shows - although surely something like TW3 was more influential in terms of political satire? - or in allowing people to make non-acted comedy shows.

Little Britain undoubtedly massively influential, for promoting the idea you didn't have to be funny to get a comedy made on BBC3.

Um, The Worst Week of My Life?

(also surely Keeping Up Appearances pre-dates Vicar of Dibley for that description you gave up there, in fact probably OFAH could count as well)

WWOML = influenced by OGITG, well-meaning buffoon has horrible things happen to him a lot through no fault of his own, has long-suffering partner who endures it.

2.4 Children and several other sitcoms were still going when VoD started - no 'trad sitcom' revival required. It's influence on anything good or bad really is 0.

UK Gold shouldn't really be wasting their time on this matter anwyay, not when they have Mel Gibson films and The New Adventures Of Old Christine to be filling their schedules with.

Coming less than 18 months after the last 'Allo 'Allo, it's pretty hard to argue TVOD could seriously represent a "revival". Ab Fab started 2 years before TVOD as well.

New Adventures of Old Christine is dreadful (note: have only seen one and a half episodes).

I am not meaning to suggest that One Foot in the Grave *was* actually influential, but it pre-dates Dibley and was 10000000x better.

OFITG influential in at least spawning memorable catchphrase which the VoD didn't (mercifully).

UKTV Gold viewers seem to have some new definition of "influential" that none of the rest of us do.

I have no clear idea of "influential" mean in this, and most other, cases

No I would argue it's a revival of the trad sitcom in that it's so much slicker than 2.4 or Allo, Allo. It's a trad british sitcom but Curtis gave it an almost American feeling. maybe.

saw adverts for new IT Crowd series. next friday? appears to contain vince noir. it sounds digusting but is actually quite beautiful.

lol goths are depressed. Keep 'em coming linehan and/or matthews

OK it revived teh idea of the trad sitcom. My Family and My Hero can be seen as following directly from its undemanding but slick mix of mild slapstick and loveably quirky characters centred round "national treasure" type lynchpin.

-- acrobat, Monday, August 13, 2007 3:48 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

the trad sitcom never went away.

Father Ted = most influential non-UK European comedy?

Or does it count as UK because it was aired on C4?

it was made for channel 4 thru hat trick, so isn't really non-uk. and to be fair, can you name a single live-action comedy that has ever aired here from the continent?

monsieur hulot should have been a tv series, it would have removed the necessity for mr. bean's existence

Has Father Ted actually influenced anything? It was fairly traditional as well.

Has Father Ted actually influenced anything?

Black Books, for a start. Anything written by one of its creators.

Right, so Graham Linehan influenced himself to write a sitcom, having written one before. OK.

I think it's possible to influence oneself. Besides, I'm sure there are more examples of FT's influence.

Kudos to the C+B poster who note that you can recreate an episode of Mock the Week in your own house just by repeatedly saying "paedophile" in a Scottish accent.

Yeh the trad sitcom was very much a going concern when Dibley turned up but there is something slicker yet blander about it than what had before. It truly is the Tony Blair of comedy.

I don't think I've seen an entire episode of The VOD. But then, I've never seen so much as one second of "Black Books"

You're always saying you've never done this or that.

Gervais defends "Brent Dance" at Di gig:

However, the comic told radio station Heart: “After the Diana concert there was one guy – who works for a tabloid – and he wrote that the crowd booed.

“They didn’t boo, they loved it. People love it when something goes wrong and I was standing there and they demanded I do the ’robot dance’ and it was funny.

“But this guy wrote: ’He’s rubbish, everything he’s ever done is rubbish and it’s all over for him’.

“That week I got nominated for four Emmy Awards, sold 100,000 DVDs of Extras and signed up for two Hollywood movies. So bring on the backlash... I want him writing about me every day.”

I can imagine Gervais spending about 2 hours just insisting 'the criticism does not bother me' to his peers, ala Coogan in The Man Who Thinks He's It.

Is Mock The Week the funniest British comedy show on TV at the mo?

Talking of "signing up for two Hollywood movies - I caught a trailer for the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" at the weekend. Gervais being billed above Robert De Niro will do his ego the world of good...

Is Mock The Week the funniest British comedy show on TV at the mo?

You have killed me.

MTW lol count = 4 or 5. More than 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Less than Star Stories.

Ban blueski

You're always saying you've never done this or that.

I've never done that

I saw some of Hyperdrive this week which wasn't that funny overall but they went back in time to 1995 which was funny. I think someone should write a whole sitcom set in 1995.

Diet Coke break
Dog Eat Dog
Devolution

Is Mock The Week the funniest British comedy show on TV at the mo?

Not in a world where Still Game exists, no.

I think someone should write a whole sitcom set in 1995.

SimpsonsSouth Park did it

Set in Essex.

Omni Trio, Outhere Brothers, Joshua Kaddison and Powder on the soundtrack.

think someone should write a whole sitcom set in 1995.

-- acrobat, Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:18 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i will write it. it will be called 'the auteurs plan their third album'. haines having his ankles broken will restrict him to his flat, giving it that classic 'confined space' brit sitcom vibe. the arc is, he has to 'sit out' britpop.

Not in a world where Still Game exists, no.

Didn't think it was still on. It's not particularly funnier anyway tho - just sort of nice pleasant viewing.

It's on Thursdays on BBC2, after Mock the Week and Hyperdrive. Presumably everyone's turned their TVs off for Hyperdrive and forgotten to switch them back on again. It's way funnier than watching Hugh Dennis pulling faces and doing Jimmy Savile impressions apropos of nothing, though YMMV, obviously.

I've never seen "Mock the Week". Never done that.

I've been a bit indifferent to the last couple of series of Still Game. It's still occasionally brilliant but for me too often strays towards Last Of The Summer Wine With Swearing.

Last one I saw was pretty hilarious

Never seem still game. Seen hyperdrive once. MTW twice. 8ooTC multiple times and that is the winner.

I like Still Game, I just find it more of a smile than a laugh.